HEALTH CARE

Obama Campaign Sees Insurance Rebates As Stealth Weapon

By National Journal Staff

A new rule meant to make insurance companies more efficient is also serving as a “stealth weapon” for Democrats in the battle for votes, Time reports on Friday. The so called medical loss ratio is meant to ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care – and rebate checks are coming to some consumers soon.

“If your insurance company is providing fair value for your premium dollars, you should know that too. You’ll be able to see your plan’s medical loss ratio on HealthCare.gov starting this summer. If you don’t get a rebate, that means your plan may have lowered prices or improved your coverage already,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes in a blog post.

Time quotes unnamed Obama campaign officials as saying this is all good for the 2012 election. “During a recent discussion with senior campaign officials about their strategy to neutralize the law’s relative unpopularity, they cited the rebate checks as a stealth weapon to push public opinion back in the White House’s favor,” Time says in a blog post.

Time points out who’s getting what in the swing states – for example, 1.7 million Floridians will get $148 million in rebates; in Ohio 212,000 people get nearly $11 million; in Virginia: 642,000 people are set to receive $40 million.